MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[augie_superfan]

Congrats Augie...keep it up tomorrow

[augiefan]

Hopefully Augie2000 can give us a health up date on Drew tomorrow afternoon. Right now I plan to attend tomorrow's game, but I'll feel more confident if I head West knowing Drew's going to be at the point for tomorrow night's game.

[Brick]

I'll deffinatly try I told him I'd call in the morning...

[Brick]

Man the Hotel's in Whitewater must not have wireless because the Titan nation sure is quiet for having such a big win and a big game by zach freeman

[The Roop]

Based on the score of the Whitewater/DePauw game I think IWU will roll tomorrow.

[dansand]

Augie wins another struggle tonight, but survival is the name of the game this time of year. Wessels absence hurt most on the defensive end.

The Vikes played good defense in the first half, with the exception of three instances late in the first half when the just didn't get back in transition and BV burned 'em for layups. In the second half, the Beavers hurt Augie quite a bit with dribble penetration. I think that's when they really missed Wessels.

On the up-side, what a huge effort by Jordan Delp. He had scored 10 points all season and had 13 in the first 13 1/2 minutes in this one. That was 13 of Augie's first 20 points as their offense was really sputtering with Harrigan struggling and Dain Swetalla on the bench with two early fouls. While he didn't score after that, he still finished with 13 points, five rebounds, six assists and just two turnovers. He did miss some free throws, but all-in-all a great game by a kid who'd only played 111 minutes all year before tonight.

Pat Brusveen (13 second-half points) and Dain Swetalla (eight) picked up the slack on the offensive end in the second half. They're both playing with a lot of confidence right now. I hope that continues.

I'd have to say I disagree a bit with AUGIE2000 and The Show in regards to the officiating (and I was actually at the game). I thought it was a reasonably well officiated game. There were a few questionable calls (both ways), but you're always going to have that. They were pretty consistent and
probably better than average compared to what I've seen this year.

As far as tomorrow night, even with Swetalla peaking, it looks like points in the paint are going to be hard to come by. Stout's Nonemacher, while not terribly polished, is a force on defense. Augie tied a school record with 14 three's in their earlier meeting and while they can't (and I'm sure won't) abandon the inside game, I think they'll need to shoot well again from the perimeter to knock off the Blue Devils.

[Brick]

Dan
I was by no means trying to make it sound like I was at the  game when commenting on the officiating, but only relaying what I heard on the broadcast. 

When you talk about points in the paint aginst Stout, wasn't Dain hurt when Augie went up there?  I think that is when he had the bad ankle sprain.  However I think Augie will need to use their good rotation of big men to get some quick fouls on the Stout big man, much like they did the Jones brothers in the first IWU game at Augie.  WHen they get him on the bench he can't cause problems....I hope Drew is back tomorrow!

[dansand]

The Stout game was Dain's second after coming back from the ankle injury and he was obviously very rusty (0 points, 3 rebounds in 24 minutes). He's really playing well right now and that's why I don't think Augie can go away from the post game.

Right now with Harrigan scuffling a bit, I think Dain is actually their #1 option on offense. Hopefully he can get Jacob Nonemacher (the Nonemacher who starts) in some foul trouble. Based on their stats and what I saw in the first game tonight, his brother John doesn't seem to be near the defensive force that Jacob is.

Stout is definitely more than the big guy though. They have two very good guards, Chandler and Stangl and their other front court players aren't very tall, but are powerfully-built and very athletic. The Augie team that beat IWU twice has a good chance to win tomorrow. The one that showed up tonight will have a tougher time.

[iwu70]

Where ARE all the Titan fans reporting from Whitewater?  Sounds like a great game by Zach.  I was only able to listen to parts of the first half, then had to go out for a conference.  Hope the Titans can keep this solid play up for the game on Saturday night.  Sure would be nice to see two CCIW teams in the Sweet Sixteen.  GO TITANS!  GO AUGIE!

[Brick]

I would like two in the elite eight better 

[Brick]

Dan
I knew that the previous Stout game was right around the time when Dain came back from that ankle injury, but I wasn't sure if he played or not...I agree that he is their 1 option for the offense right now, but I wouldn't put it past Rick to get hot with the end of his Augie career on the line...

[veterancciwfan]

Back from Whitewter. Yes, Zach had a monster game, 13/19 from the field , 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 29 points. But the IWU bench was outstanding with 8 from Andrew Freeman (3/4 from field, 1/2 in 3-pt. shots, a conventional 3 point play, 3 rebounds, 1 block, and 8 points in 9 minutes), 4 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block from Chris Jones (both baskets were huge in the last 5-6 minutes), and 7 points, 2 rebounds including an unlikely offensive tip in, and 3 assists from Matt Arnold. So a total of 19 points from those 3. IWU outrebounded Carroll 46 to 33. IWU rebounded well, had only 9 TOs in an up and down game, and shot FTs well (10/12 until the final minute when the reserves missed 3 of 4). Steve Schweer also provided some 1st half defense, rebounds, and energy when Zach was briefly on the bench. IWU was only 4 of 20 on 3s with A'ovich only 2/7 and Dauksas only 1/3. Arnold and Fisher combined were 0/7 on 3s. Carroll is a nice team and I'm sure played one of their poorer games of the year. Whitewater is loaded with talent at every position and has a lot of depth. But if IWU regains its 3 point touch on Sat. and maintains its rebounding, FT shooting and minimal TOs (big ifs I know), I think IWU can eke out a win on Sat. Zach Freeman was not beat up and knocked to the floor like he has been in many prior IW games, so I think he might have a fabulous weekend in WI. At least IWU got some bad feelings out of their system for 1) last year's home loss to Hanover in the 2nd round, and 2) winning for the 1st time ever in their 6th game in the D3 tourney games in WI.

[Greek Tragedy]

Based on the score of the Whitewater/DePauw game I think IWU will roll tomorrow.

You're just bitter because Carroll lost! lol. 

Very entertaining but sloppy (at times) game for Carroll and IWU.  IWU definitely has some players on their team with a lot of athletic ability.  But, you have to have more than two gears, fast and stop.  There were times that the Titans just ran too much and forced their own turnovers.  Lots of credit goes to Carroll for knocking down some timely 3s and keeping it close everytime it looked like IWU was going to run away with it.  At 34-24, I thought the Titans would put the nail in the coffin, but Carroll fought back and the game was finally out of reach with about 3 minutes to play.  Freeman is a monster...unstoppable. 

Whitewater wins despite a very poor performance by the usually stout defense.  It seemed like the Warhawks refused to guard the "3" and DePauw took full advantage with some big threes to keep it close until about 2 minutes left in the game (despite being down by as many as 15 or so in the first half).  Whitewater players were burnt plenty of times on the backdoor or leaving guys open for 3s. 

If Whitewater plays like this tomorrow, they'll get killed.  I anticipate another close game tomorrow.

Nice to meet Titan Q and some other Whitewater posters.  Hope Titan Q and I can chat a little more tomorrow.  The Whitewater game was basically a sellout (2500+).  Carroll had a vocal (but sometimes profane) crowd that equalled IWU's crowd numbers.

With all the talk about IWU traveling supporters, I was actually a little disappointed with the size and especially the noise level (or lack thereof) of the Titan faithful.  I really didn't hear much from them until the game was basically in doubt.  Even after a huge alley-oop dunk by Freeman (?), the crowd was pretty quiet on IWU's end.  I also thought there would be more IWU supporters!  I know you only get a certain number of tix, but you could call and order an unlimited amount and the game was never sold out!

Not a big deal...but considering all the stories and reputation of the IWU traveling support, I guess I was expecting more/louder crowd! lol. 

Huge dunk by one of the DePauw players and no one could believe he didn't get a technical foul for hanging on the rim...he basically was doing pull ups on it!  Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow...

TWO CCIW/WIAC battles! 

[augie_superfan]

Was the boxscore correct from the Augie game that the attendance was only 999!!!

If so, that is just a disappointing showing.

[John Gleich]

Saw the game with OS, so I don't have to repost much, but...

I will echo his sentiment that IWU seemed to have two completely contrasting speeds.  When I look at the box score, it says that Dauksas didn't have any turnovers, and I'm shocked by that.  I can specifically think of two plays where I think he turned it over, and completely out of trying to push the ball into an open-floor opening that simply shut before he got there.

I fully understand that IWU was trying to push the ball... but there's pushing the ball when the time is right, and there's slowing it down and grinding out offense instead of forcing up the first semi-decent look you get... I thought that the Titans did this more often than they needed to, and this allowed Carroll to stay in the game.

If someone told me before the game that there two All-Americans on IWU's team, after the game, I'd say it was Freeman, and someone else, but I wouldn't know who that was.  Zach Freeman was an absolute monster on the inside, and he was relentless.  Even on shots he missed, he got the rebound (he had 4 on the offensive end) and went right back up.  Carroll just didn't have anyone to match the intensity with which Freeman attacked the basket.

Cory Jones attacked the bucket with some of that same intensity... but I didn't like how he tried to finish.  Sure, he had 4 baskets and 10 points, but on the 5 he missed, he was literally at point-blank range, and all he had to do was lay it up softly off the board, and it would have been 2 points.  He repeatedly tried this flippy-finger-roll that slipped right off the front of the rim... and, like I said, these were right at the basket, after he'd beaten his defender.  They were essentially free points, and the game, down the stretch, was much closer because of it.  

The thing I took most from Illinois Wesleyan's game was their relentlessness.  On the half court, they went to the basket and either made the bucket, got fouled, or were right there for the rebound if it came off (and the defender, more often than not, was on their heels, falling out of bounds and NOT in position for the board).  On the fast break, they pushed pushed pushed... but I felt that this was possibly to the detriment of the team.  There were multiple situations where I felt they pushed too hard and tried to score too quickly and didn't get a good shot or they turned it over.  I see this all the time in Division 1 games... these players want to play at break-neck speeds and make the spectacular play... and they make that play 1 out of every 3 times.  Ok.  Great.  But what happens on the other 2 times?  The ball is going the other way, and you can't set your defense.  Carroll took advantage of this and cut the lead to 4 with 7 minutes to go, but IWU's relentlessness ended up wearing Carroll down, and CC had to force the issue, allowing IWU to come away with the 13 point win.

Regarding their opponent tomorrow... I think Whitewater had a little case of looking past an opponent.  They didn't seem to play with much urgency, and if they play the same way tomorrow, then IWU has the talent to blow them out of the water.

I personally think that UWW will refocus and be ready to play tomorrow night.  Whitewater has been playing some really good defense all season, and that was really lacking tonight.  There's a great match-up, too, between Dauksas and Manchester.  Manchester this week was voted the WIAC Player of the Year, and he is Whitewater's leader.  It should be a great game and I think the winner will have as good a shot as anyone to come out of this sectional!